Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) yesterday said that he is planning to transform the agency into a higher-ranking “ministry of environment and resources” in 18 months.
In a radio interview hosted by independent journalist and filmmaker Kevin Lee (李惠仁), the minister reiterated his policies of air pollution remediation, soil contamination solutions and illegal dumping prevention.
“The EPA is no longer the ‘submissive daughter-in-law’ under the [now defunct] Department of Health and the agency should get rid of the traditional mindset to deal with increasingly diversified environmental issues. I will push for legislation authorizing the establishment of a ‘ministry of environment and resources’ within a year and establish the ministry in 18 months,” Lee Ying-yuan said.
Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times
Kevin Lee said air pollution is the issue that concerns the public most, as more than 100 questions sent by Internet users asked about measures to ease air pollution.
“It is ridiculous that the public cannot breathe clean air. We plan to make the six-year Clean Air Program approved by the former administration a four-year project. The EPA will allocate an air pollution fund of NT$30 billion [US$925.9 million] to reduce ‘red level’ incidents by 20 percent in two years and by half in four years,” Lee Ying-yuan said.
According to the EPA’s four-color categorization of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter — “red” is the second-most severe level, corresponding to PM2.5 levels of 59 to 64 micrograms per cubic meter.
The EPA will ask the power sector to increase the use of Australian coal, which has lower sulfur content and is more environmentally friendly, despite lower energy content, he said.
The agency will also encourage factories to replace crude oil with diesel, because crude oil generates several hundred times more sulfides, Lee Ying-yuan said.
While EPA Deputy Minister Thomas Chan (詹順貴) said that a rejected Yulin County ban on bituminous coal might be accepted if the wholesale ban was revised to a partial restriction, Lee Ying-yuan said that the ban was rejected on the ground that it involved national energy management and was within the Bureau of Energy’s jurisdiction.
Lee Ying-yuan said the problem of farm contamination stems from electroplating plants, whose wastewater was on many occasions found to pollute farmland, and the problem could not be solved without removing electroplating plants from farms.
The agency will set up industry parks to separate farms from polluting industries, he said.
The minister also said he had negotiated with the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office to investigate illegal dumping of industrial waste, and mostly notably, of slag, because he suspected that licensed recyclers have colluded with illegal reprocessors, adding that efforts depend on public participation to crack down on illegal dumping.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition